A Pennsylvania art teacher was arrested for institutional sexual assault of five female students he groomed in plain sight, and a Maryland school worker faces new charges for hiding cameras in a girls' changing room — two government school predators in two states, and the system built to protect these kids didn't.

These are two cases in two states, but the pattern is the same: adults entrusted with children exploited that access, and the institutions that employed them were nowhere to be found until the damage was done.

Joshua Michael Larson, 47, an art teacher at Williamsport Area High School, was arrested Wednesday and committed to Lycoming County Prison without bail on charges of institutional sexual assault, endangering the welfare of children, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and harassment, the Patriot News reported.

A district spokesperson said Larson was suspended March 11 and is no longer on the payroll. She declined further comment.

She should have plenty to say. According to the arrest affidavit, Lycoming County Detective Loretta A. Badger received six Childline reports naming Larson by March 17. Ten students were interviewed. Five were identified as victims.

All five told investigators Larson gave them coral from vacation and commented on their clothing and hair. The affidavit details a predator testing boundaries methodically: He told one girl, "In all honesty, you're the only reason I am alive right now" and pushed her to work at the same pool where he planned to work, noting his apartment was nearby for lunch. He suggested a summer art class at his apartment for select students and discussed students watching movies there. He exempted one victim from assignments she didn't complete.

He rubbed one student's shoulders and played with her bra, telling her "you don't love me" when she resisted. He pressured another to show him personal photos on her phone and insisted his "love feelings" toward her were genuine. He told students he wanted to be viewed as a friend, not a teacher. He took one girl's phone despite her objections and leaned over tables to position himself close to her.

One victim told detectives Larson admitted he didn't want to be alone with a student because of school cameras — he knew where the surveillance was and worked around it. She stopped attending his study hall to avoid him.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, the failure took a different shape. James Mulhern III, 43, a media services technician at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, was initially charged in April with one count of sex abuse of a minor and released on a $10,000 unsecured personal bond — a pittance for a man accused of planting a hidden camera in a girls' changing room.

Now Mulhern faces eight new charges after investigators found 15 hidden-camera videos on a flash drive seized from his home, WJLA reported. Eleven were recorded inside the girls' theater changing room and costume storage room, showing students changing with their underwear exposed. Some files had been renamed with references to the students depicted. Investigators also found roughly 39 pictures focused on teenage girls' cleavage — some taken at the school, others apparently screenshotted from students' social media. His phone contained internet searches involving teenage girls and the high school.

The investigation only started because two students found the camera in the theater control booth themselves. One copied the memory card to a school laptop and discovered the changing room footage. The school principal identified the man placing the camera as Mulhern.

MCPS placed Mulhern on leave without pay. SEIU Local 500 removed him from union duties pending the investigation.

In Pennsylvania, Larson knew where the cameras were and evaded them. In Maryland, Mulhern was the one operating the cameras. Five girls in Williamsport endured months of grooming and unwanted contact. An unknown number of girls in Bethesda were filmed undressing — and students had to uncover the crime themselves because the adults running these schools couldn't be bothered.

Where were the protections for these kids? That question hangs over both cases. The administrators still aren't answering.